Shanghai Queer Film Festival 2017

The Shanghai Queer Film Festival (SHQFF) is a newly launched annual festival that looks to use cinema as a device for telling the LGBTQ+ story in an approachable way and encourage discussion around the topic of sexuality. As a completely volunteer-run and non-profit event, SHQFF aims to create a platform where filmmakers, especially those of an Asian background, and audiences can meet, converse, and share with one another it means to be LGBTQIA in modern times.

The inaugural event will kick off on September 16th and end on September 24th, beginning with a double feature showing of Orientations: Lesbians and Gay Asians and Re:Orientations, two films by director Richard Fung. The first film, released in 1986, examines the lives of lesbians and gay Asians in Toronto during the 1980s. The latter film, released in 2016, is a look at seven of the fourteen lesbians and gay men interviewed in the first film, showing how their lives and the world around them has changed over the last thirty years.

Other notable screenings during the week of festivities will include more films such as Tales of the Lost Boys, Starting Over, The Ornithologist, and more. Beyond these, the festival will also be screening 15 films from finalists of the SHQFF Short Film competition. Yu, a member of the film selection committee, explains that using film to tell stories of LGBTQ+ culture will help “reveal an abundance of queer Asian characters, encourage discussion on queer culture in the East, and represent diversity the diversity of love and freedom.”

在这个为期一周的影展中，其它值得关注的电影还包括许多近来新拍的电影，譬如《他和他的心旅程》（Tales of the Lost Boys）、《从头来过》（Starting Over）、《鸟类学家》（The Orinithologist）等等。除此之外，影展还会展映SHQFF短片竞赛单元的15部入围电影。电影推选委员会成员之一Yu解释说，通过电影讲述LGBTQ+文化可以“揭示丰富多样的亚洲酷儿面貌，鼓励亚洲人们对酷儿文化的讨论，展示爱和自由的多元性。”

Herstory by Han Zhang, Cong Chen

Sodom's Cat by Huang Ting-Chun

“We are proud to offer this new platform for queer cinema, and to showcase some of the best queer films from around the world,” says Ting, the founder of SHQFF. “We hope this new platform can help Chinese and Asian filmmakers to showcase their work, as well as create a network for them to connect and bring them closer to audiences.”